➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[sdm111]

 

[FortCluck]

I got a half dozen eggs. They're definitely mystery eggs. There were OEGB in the rotation this time!

Tomorrow I pick up the other 3 dozen. I'm going to set these and my 1 egg I got from my cook this morning.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I got a half dozen eggs. They're definitely mystery eggs. There were OEGB in the rotation this time!

Tomorrow I pick up the other 3 dozen. I'm going to set these and my 1 egg I got from my cook this morning.

Sounds like you’ll have a good variety of chicks!!

 

[FortCluck]

Sounds like you’ll have a good variety of chicks!!

Hopefully. I'm going to put these ones I'm tonight I think. My bator is running and it's been running for a couple days.

 

[CSAchook]

View attachment 1995103

You have such handsome boys Mr. Sam

 

[FortCluck]

They weren't sure if the eggs would be viable due to the cold mornings, but I think they'll be fine. We will see!

 

[RUNuts]

Little is growing. Whatcha think? Cockerel?

 

[ShrekDawg]

What is the goal? What are you looking for in a cockerel? Is there some concern you have about your current ones?

I don’t really have a specific goal or anything.

I mostly just think some of these OEGB cockerels are gorgeous and would like to add those looks to the flock.

But I do also want one just because of all the benefits I have read about having roosters in the flock.

I never considered having roosters before but now that I hatched some and have several to choose from, I’d like to keep at least one or add an OEGB.

I don’t really have any specific concerns with mine but I just am a little bit concerned about possible aggression in the standards. They haven’t shown any so far but they are young still and I have heard that Welsummers and RIR can be quite nasty.

I guess it probably depends though.

They crow exactly like every other rooster, only pitched appropriately to their size.

They're bantams. They can't fight off anything even remotely determined. Most roosters are only capable of giving warning of threats they spot and not of stopping them.

In general, I find them polite, charming with hens, and good with chicks. They're a bit hotheaded, particularly as cockerels, but rarely inflict much damage on each other. They're smart enough to avoid picking fights they can't win with my LF roosters. They are, however, quick to defend themselves and react to provocation in ways that larger birds often don't, which results in a lot of them turning chronically aggressive if raised by someone ignorant in communication. I've seen a lot of these at other farms. These birds are highly intelligent, as far as chickens go; communication is rarely an issue on their end, it's a problem on the human's behalf. If I wish to train any of my OEGBs to stop a behaviour or start a new one it takes me less than an hour to get them to do pretty much anything.

I have always had larger roosters too, so I can't prove this, but my theory is that their better behaviour around hens and avoidance of conflict is simply due to them having to "game the system" to get hens and resources. They can't use brute strength, they have to woo their hens and tread lightly around the alpha males. I don't think it's because of some innate thing inside of them. That's only a theory, like I said.

Standard cockerels have their own merits. My Plymouth Rock, Zachary, is extraordinarily well mannered, gentle around humans, and keeps the more fiery OEGB cockerels in check. He's staying here for the rest of his life. It is my belief that nurture matters far more than nature in most generic traits among chickens.

This is all excellent information and very helpful so thank you for this!!

So when you say the crow and pitch is proportionate to their size... does that mean they have a high pitched squeaky pipsqueak type crow!?

I figured they would not be able to fight anything off and wouldn’t even expect a standard rooster to but I guess what I meant by protect them better was more so just potentially being more aware of threats and sounding the alarm more often than a standard rooster might? But I guess it probably depends?

They do sound like perfect gentlemen though.

But it is good to hear that standard roosters can be great too! Because honestly when you were describing the bantams, they sounded perfect and I wanted to get one because I was terrified of potential aggression in a standard sized rooster and wanted to avoid it but it sounds like it might not even be an issue?

It seems like it maybe depends highly on the individual rooster though and their upbringing.

I have been avoiding handling the chicks so that they aren’t overly familiar with me and potentially aggressive.

Also, if I do keep one, it would likely be added to the flock of adults along with any pullets so maybe that would help curb any aggression to me or the hens as opposed to if I gave him his own separate flock?

I’m not sure which one, if any, I plan on keeping yet. I know for sure I have a RIR cockerel, a Welsummer pair, and a Barred Rock cockerel, and I may potentially also have an EE cockerel and either an Australorp or Andalusian cockerel (can’t tell them apart atm). A couple others I thought may be boys but now their combs don’t look red so idk.

I plan on keeping them all though until I can tell for sure.

I have heard bad things about RIR and Welsummer roosters but I’m going to give them all a fair chance. So far none are aggressive and still seem a bit scared of me which I think is a good thing.

Like my others, he's mixed. I don't think his colour is APA accepted. It's actually sex linked; his mother looks like him, and throws all-buff females and black-and-white males. Doesn't seem to matter what the father is, she's been paired with a few and this holds entirely consistent. I don't know what happens in the second or third generation out, though. He's just a cockerel yet.

That is fascinating!!

He's not very big. It only looks that way because there's nothing in the image to give a sense of scale.

Ah okay. That makes sense!

That is really cool.

X2!!

The Brabanters are on the small size of the standard fowl spectrum. They do not each much feed, and are excellent foragers. Despite that, they also handle confinement really well. They do not pick on my small birds at all.
Eggs are medium sized and white.

Thanks for all the info!! They sound like an amazing breed from everything you’ve said about them. My current flock is mostly confined but I want to start letting them free range again. I used to more but got nervous about a couple predator scares. But they’re much happier when they get out so I’m going to start again. I do like the idea of them being good foragers. Means they should eat less, right? Most of mine are pretty good foragers but some seem completely oblivious hah and some really stand out in terms of foraging ability.

Thank you.

No problem!!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Little is growing. Whatcha think? Cockerel?View attachment 1995144

His comb doesn’t look very red but his head/neck sure does! Do NN cockerels get red heads? If so, I say he definitely looks like a boy!! Especially since he’s pretty young, right? Seems like a lot of comb for a only few week old? Bird.

 

[RUNuts]

4 weeks old & Fuzzy has the bigger comb.